Bone broth is one of the new kids on the health and wellness scene. It has claimed benefits for skin, bone, and joint health, making it popular as an anti-aging food. Some athletes even credit bone broth for reducing joint pain and injury risk, as well as improving injury recovery. Sounds amazing, right? Let’s take a deeper look at what bone broth is and whether there is scientific support for its health benefits.
 
What is Bone Broth
 
Bone broth is as simple as it sounds: it’s a broth made from animal bones. Bones are boiled in water for many hours, which pulls out vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat from the bones, tendons, and ligaments. From the time our non-human ancestors started eating animals, there was no part of the animal that went to waste, because who knew when they would find another meal? This means that any part of the animal that could be chewed and digested was eaten, including muscle, organs, tendons, and ligaments. Once fire came along, it allowed us to use even more of the animal by cooking and boiling bones. North Americans’ sole focus on muscle meat is a recent change, and since we have been eating the whole animal for most of our evolutionary history, eating only muscle meat limits the intake of some important nutrients our body needs for optimal health. Bone broth contains many macro and micronutrients that are hard to find elsewhere. These include collagen/gelatin, glucosamine, and hyaluronic acid. Now let’s take a look at why these nutrients are important for the athlete.
 
Bone and Joint Health
 
Collagen is the most abundant protein in our tendons, ligaments, bones, and skin, and is essential for optimal joint function. As with humans, most collagen is found in animal bone, tendon, ligament, and skin, and if we do not eat these parts of the animal, our collagen intake will be less than ideal. Luckily, bone broth is a significant source of gelatin (the cooked form of collagen) which is what gives it a jelly-like consistency once it cools. Gelatin contains a number of amino acids including glycine and proline, both of which are necessary for collagen formation. Some say that since these amino acids are not considered essential (meaning our body can manufacture them from other proteins) that it is not necessary for us to consume collagen/gelatin. However, evidence indicates that there are situations where our synthesis of glycine and proline are not enough to meet demands; therefore, these amino acids are actually considered conditionally essential. This means that although our bodies can manufacture them, dietary sources are still necessary for optimal levels. Bone broth also contains other important molecules for joint health including glucosamine and hyaluronic acid which have a number of functions including maintaining joint fluidity.
 
In light of the above, it is not surprising that bone broth and collagen supplementation has been associated with improvements in joint pain for athletes and non-athletes, as well as those with arthritis. Since collagen is a major component of bone, there is also evidence that collagen supplementation can improve/support bone density. Most of this evidence comes from studies on postmenopausal women and undernutrition; however, it is known that collagen supplementation increases collagen synthesis in the body which is required for increasing bone strength and density.
 
Injuries, many of which occur in ligament, tendons, and bones, are a real concern for athletes. Fortunately, since collagen improves the health of these structural tissues, it is expected to reduce the risk of injuries. Furthermore, muscle is not the only tissue that responds to exercise. Ligaments, tendons, and bones also increase in density and size based on loads they experience during physical activity. These tissues need sufficient amounts of collagen in order to increase their size and/or density, and evidence indicates that collagen intake increases collagen synthesis in active individuals, providing the materials needed for building stronger bones, tendons, and ligaments.
 
Muscle Growth and Recovery
 
Since collagen is not a major protein found in muscle, some believe that collagen supplementation has no impact on skeletal muscle growth. However, there is some evidence indicating that certain types of collagen are essential for muscle recovery following injury. Additionally, collagen supplementation has been shown to enhance muscle growth in combination with weight training in those with muscle wasting conditions. While there is no direct evidence that collagen improves or supports muscle gain in athletes, it is important to consider that intense exercise causes micro-injury to muscles which the muscle must recover from to improve its capacity for the next training session.
 
Digestive Health
 
Collagen is clearly beneficial for the health of our connective tissue, but guess what? The lining of our intestines is also part of our connective tissue. Not surprisingly, glycine and proline can protect the intestinal lining from toxin-induced damage. Glycine is also required for hydrochloric acid production and bile secretion which are needed for digestion. This means that gelatin contributes to the secretion of substances necessary for proper digestion of protein and fat while also promoting the health of the intestinal lining where these nutrients can be properly absorbed. As obvious as this may be, athletes want a healthy gastrointestinal tract to ensure we are efficiently digesting and absorbing all that food we eat to make us bigger, better, faster, and stronger. Not to mention the fact that gut pain and gas is not a comfortable thing to have while competing in any sport.
 
Immune and Antioxidant Systems
Glycine and proline aren’t just good for the health of our connective tissues; they also play important roles in the functions of our immune and antioxidant/anti-inflammatory systems. Glycine is a precursor to glutathione, our body’s master antioxidant, and is very important for controlling oxidative stress levels and detoxification. Studies show promise for the ability of glycine supplementation to reduce whole body oxidative stress. Glycine also has direct immunoregulatory (regulates the immune system) properties, helping us deal with pathogens we are exposed to as well as reducing the risk of excess inflammation produced from our own immune system.
 
These effects are very important for general health as they reduce the risk of infections as well as diseases related to chronic inflammation such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, arthritis, etc. Obviously, these conditions can negatively impact athletes since a healthy athlete must first be a healthy person. Athletes also place other demands on the immune system due to high levels of physical training that collagen/gelatin can assist with. Athletes must produce more energy to fuel their activity level. ATP is required for our body to pretty much do anything, but when our body manufactures ATP, there is a certain amount of free radicals that are released and need to be neutralized by our antioxidant system. Exercise is also technically a stress to the body, categorized as hormetic stress, which triggers the body to recover in a stronger form, so the same levels of exercise are not as “stressful” next time. The immune system plays a key role in the recovery process where too little or too much immune system activity negatively impacts optimal recovery.
 
Conclusion
 
As I’ve detailed, bone broth contains high amounts of collagen, which means high amounts of the amino acids glycine and proline discussed above. For those who can’t stomach the taste of broth, a hydrolyzed collagen supplement is an alternative. However, many collagen supplements may not contain other nutrients that are present in bone broth, such as glucosamine, hyaluronic acid, vitamins, and minerals.
 
The bottom line is that bone broth plays some pretty key roles for health and performance including supporting bone and joint health, contributing to muscle recovery and possibly growth, supporting digestive health, acting as an anti-inflammatory and supports production of the master antioxidant glutathione, contributing to immune system regulation, and making your skin look wicked beautiful and young by increasing elasticity and moisture. No more wrinkles! Okay, okay, the last point isn’t important for athletic performance, but who doesn’t want to look awesome all the time?
 
Although bone broth is pretty amazing, don’t ditch your meat, fish, vegetable, and fruit intake in favor of broth. Athletes should consider bone broth as an important ADDITION to a whole food diet that provides other necessary nutrients to fuel athletic activity such as fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.